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Indo-US deal | 'Govt has time to re-think'
Experts opined that America was trying to use agreement to make India freeze, cap and rollback its nuclear programme.
Defence analysts and nuclear scientists on Sunday expressed "great concern" over the Indo-US nuclear deal, which is expected to be tabled in the next few days before the US Congress for approval.
They hinted that the government still had time to "rethink" it.
The experts, who were speaking at a seminar on 'Nuclear India - Technological and strategic relevance', claimed that the government was not paying sufficient attention to the "pitfalls and weaknesses" in the nuke deal.
"The kind of things mentioned in the Preamble of the deal has all things like nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), Comprehensive (nuclear) Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), Iran issue, which we cannot ignore," said defence analyst Bharat Karnard.
"Although some leaders say it was only the preamble and can be ignored, it does not work like this. In fact, the Americans want India to freeze, cap and rollback our programme," Karnard stressed.
The experts alleged that with the deal, America, which has no nuclear power building business, was trying to steal Indian technology of the "closed fuel cycle" through the safeguard mechanism.
"It is time to show strong leadership in protecting the interests of the nation which the scientists and our great nation builders have built for over five decades," they said.
